[AntonioLao]

Linus Pauling (1901-1994), a 2 times Nobel Laureate, for chemistry and for peace, devoted chapter 9 of his book “General Chemistry” to the discussion of gas as described by quantum mechanics and statistical mechanics. Ludwig Boltzmann (1844-1906) wrote a book entitled “Lectures on Gas Theory”, but in these books no question was posted: why C2 not a gas, while at s.t.p., O2, N2, F2, Cl2, and the mono-atomic noble gases of group 0 of the periodic table of chemical elements are?

The universe exists almost completely in the physical state of ionized gas called plasma. In 1938, Hans Bethe (1906-2005) proposed a process known as the carbon cycle of energy production inside a star and for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967. Although he described how C ® N ® O ® N ® C in nucleosynthesis, there was no further explanation why under extreme temperature and pressure carbon atoms bonded into diamonds as the hardest substance found in nature. The softer sides of carbon are the erasable pencils. Obviously, gaseous pencils would be difficult to hold on to. On the other hand, without powder carbon, microphones, telephones, and cell phones cannot exist. Both hydrogen and oxygen exist in diatomic gases as H2 and O2. The peculiarity is that when carbon is bonded to H2 and O2, respectively, natural gas called methane CH4 and greenhouse gas called carbon dioxide CO2 are formed. Some other poisonous gas combinations are CO, O3, CFC, etc. On the benefits of carbon compounds as championed by Pauling, vitamin C is C6H8O6, i.e., 6 atoms of carbon, 8 of hydrogen, and 6 of oxygen. Vitamin A is C5H16O. Vitamin B1 is C12H17N4OS, vitamin B2 is C17H20N4O6, vitamin B5 is C9H17NO5, vitamin B6 is C8H11NO3. Even the sugar compound glucose is made of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen – C6H12O6. So, it is a fact that the end product of all organic compounds is CO2 but the only way that CO2 can reverse back to organic compounds is by photosynthesis.